John 13:18–30

Read the passage.

Now we can talk more in depth about Judas’s betrayal. Back in verses 10 and 11, Jesus made the point that not all of His disciples were spiritually clean, because John tells us He knew who would betray Him. This shows that the physical washing didn’t correlate to salvation in an effective sense, or Judas would have believed right then and not gone on to betray Him. Instead, Jesus knows what is going to happen and makes predictions about one of His disciples betraying Him, without revealing his identity beforehand.

This announcment disturbs all of the disciples. Most of them wonder who it could be, each wondering if it might be him for some reason. Judas probably wonders what exactly Jesus knows. Peter gets John (who refuses to name himself in the narrative) to ask Jesus whom He is talking about. I wish I could have seen how this played out, because Jesus gives a direct answer. “The one I give this food,” He says, and then gives it to Judas. (v. 26) And no one reacts! Surely John and Peter were paying attention to what Jesus said. However, by the time Jesus tells Judas to go do what he’s decided to do, “no one at the table knew why he said this to him.” (v. 28)

I have two theories. One, there’s a small time gap in which Peter and John got up from the table to discuss what they ought to do about Judas, and Judas left before they got back. I find that unlikely. Instead, I think there was a supernatural veil over the disciples to keep them from remembering, understanding, and interfering with the divine plan of redemption. This would be similar to the way the disciples on the road to Emmaus didn’t recognize Jesus after He had risen, or how they all remembered what Jesus said after they heard He was alive. (Luke 24:8 and John 2:22)

Help us to remember Your Word in every moment and circumstance.